Triumf, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) from Kolkata, India to establish a technology, research and trade partnership in advanced materials, physics, and life sciences technologies.

This agreement formalizes a collaborative research and development partnership between India and B.C.-based laboratories to share resources and technical expertise in superconducting radio-frequency accelerator technology. Canada has recently changed its policy on nuclear science and technology with India to enhance this type of collaboration. Featuring an initial $2.25 million investment by Triumf and VECC, this collaboration would generate new business in B.C. and spur developments in cancer diagnosis, the study of materials and nuclei, and medical-isotope research. The agreement would also include the exchange of scientists from India and Canada to share knowledge and experience in building accelerators.

Through such a partnership, Triumf would design and build a revolutionary new generation of accelerator that would impact physics, materials science, and nuclear medicine. This partnership puts B.C. at the forefront of physics research and discovery, noted Nigel Lockyer, Director, Triumf. Triumf's ongoing success in research, development, and commercialization is based on its reputation for investing in people and fostering the international exchange of innovative ideas through collaborations like the one concluded.

Bikash Sinha, Director of the India-based VECC laboratory looks forward to the partnership with a Canadian-based laboratory. He said, that the agreement represented the partnership of two of the world's leading laboratories for advanced accelerator technology. By working together, an expected increase in the economic, social, and environmental benefits could be realized through this research, said Sinha.

The agreement builds on the spring 2008 success of a team of scientists and engineers from TRIUMF and Richmond, B.C.-based PAVAC Industries, Inc., in fabricating the first superconducting cavity. It was the combination of this technology demonstration and TRIUMF's reputation that drew VECC into the partnership. The TRIUMF team would be leveraging its resources with those from VECC with this agreement, thereby keeping Canada at the forefront of this rapidly growing area of science, technology, and innovation.

Donald Brooks, Associate Vice-President Research for the University of British Columbia in a congratulatory note to both VECC and TRIUMF said that this new partnership would facilitate the increased exchange of knowledge and expertise between India and British Columbia-further strengthening British Columbia's ties with the Asia Pacific region. Collaborations of technology, education, and innovation like this were vital to the Canadian economy and in achieving new scientific understanding.